Establishing Select Committee on Benghazi

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor today to urge my colleagues to vote against the creation of this select committee. Because this is not a select committee to investigate what happened in Benghazi, which has been done many times already, it is not a select committee to investigate what we can do to better protect our embassies, consulates, and diplomatic corps, which appears to have generated little interest in the majority, it is not even a select committee to probe where we were in the hunt for those responsible, which involves classified information and is something done best in closed session.

No. This is a proposal to create a select committee on talking points.

I have been involved with the investigation into Benghazi from day one as a member of the Intelligence Committee because, like every other American, I wanted to know what happened, why it happened, and how we can keep it from happening again. And I want to bring to justice those who perpetrated this horrible attack.

But almost 18 months later, and after eight reports from House and Senate committees and the Accountability Review Board, the questions that this select committee purports to investigate have been asked and answered time and time and time again. There is no question that this select committee on talking points will waste potentially millions of taxpayer dollars in a purely partisan exercise and serve as little more than a fundraising vehicle for Republicans.

Up until last Friday, the Speaker of the House resisted the siren call from his base for yet another wasteful committee. Here is what he said just a month ago:

There are four committees that are investigating Benghazi. I see no reason to break up all the work that has been done and to take months and months and months to create some select committee.

I agree with the Speaker's previous assessment.

Democrats made a proposal to structure the committee so that it had equal numbers of members of each party, so that it required cooperation on subpoenas and depositions, and so that it guaranteed equal access to evidence and material collected by the committee. Yet, in each case, we were rejected.

If this isn't a fair investigation and select committee, there is no reason for Democrats to vote for it or to participate in it. Let's end the political circus and focus our efforts on preventing another Benghazi and accelerating the hunt for the murderers of four Americans, including Ambassador Stevens.

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